More Efficient Network Class Loading Through Bundling

In this paper, we describe bundling, a technique for the transfer of files over a network. The goal of bundling is to group together files that tend to be needed in the same program execution and that are loaded close together. We describe an algorithm for dividing a collection of files into bundles based on profiles of file-loading behavior.

Our motivation for bundling is to improve the performance of network class loading in Java. We examine other network class loading mechanisms and discuss their performance tradeoffs. Bundling is able to combine the strengths of both on-demand strategies and archive-based strategies. We present experimental results that show how bundling can perform well in a variety of network conditions.